azement which seemed to stupefy his faculties. But
Lucilian had no sooner recovered his spirits than he betrayed his want
of discretion, by presuming to admonish his conqueror that he had rashly
ventured, with a handful of men, to expose his person in the midst of
his enemies. "Reserve for your master Constantius these timid
remonstrances," replied Julian, with a smile of contempt: "when I gave
you my purple to kiss, I received you not as a counsellor, but as a
suppliant." Conscious that success alone could justify his attempt, and
that boldness only could command success, he instantly advanced, at the
head of three thousand soldiers, to attack the strongest and most
populous city of the Illyrian provinces.

As he entered the long suburb of Sirmium, he was received by the joyful
acclamations of the army and people, who, crowned with flowers, and
holding lighted tapers in their hands, conducted their acknowledged
sovereign to his imperial residence. Two days were devoted to the
public joy, which was celebrated by the games of the Circus; but, early
on the morning of the third day, Julian marched to occupy the narrow
pass of Succi, in the defiles of Mount Haemus; which, almost in the
midway between Sirmium and Constantinople, separates the provinces of
Thrace and Dacia, by an abrupt descent toward the former, and a gentle
declivity on the side of the latter. The defence of this important post
was intrusted to the brave Nevitta; who, as well as the generals of the
Italian division, successfully executed the plan of the march and
junction which their master had so ably conceived.

The homage which Julian obtained, from the fears or the inclination of
the people, extended far beyond the immediate effect of his arms. The
prefectures of Italy and Illyricum were administered by Taurus and
Florentius, who united that important office with the vain honors of the
consulship; and, as those magistrates had retired with precipitation to
the court of Asia, Julian, who could not always restrain the levity of
his temper, stigmatized their flight by adding, in all the Acts of the
Year, the epithet of _fugitive_ to the names of the two consuls.

The provinces which had been deserted by their first magistrates
acknowledged the authority of an emperor who, conciliating the qualities
of a soldier with those of a philosopher, was equally admired in the
camps of the Danube and in the cities of Greece. From his palace, or,
more properly, from